Follow the wires....If you can

[shipwreck66]

We've all had annoying leaks after rains, most of which we find and stop. I have one I think is coming off the wiring harness from the mast. This is kind of a hip bone connected to the thigh bone thing so bear with me. The mast wiring runs down to the deck, plugs into the deck plug, or in my case just disappears into the deck. At this point the harness runs across the top of cabin near the starboard hatch over head, then runs down starboard side of cabin, somewhere. Does anybody know where. I am suspecting it runs very near my forward window in salon. I get a slow drip out of one of the window frame screws after a rain and am convinced it's not the window leaking. Any ideas. I am going to drill a small relief hole outside (in the aluminum frame) so any moisture in there will drain out. Other than that I just keep a towel under the spot.

 

[drumbeater]

I'm chasing one also. Thought it was the chainplate and when I took the trim piece off, I noticed it was coming from around the screw hole, not the chainplate openings. Something in the topside who knows where?

 

[Joe]

We've all had annoying leaks after rains, most of which we find and stop. I have one I think is coming off the wiring harness from the mast. This is kind of a hip bone connected to the thigh bone thing so bear with me. The mast wiring runs down to the deck, plugs into the deck plug, or in my case just disappears into the deck. At this point the harness runs across the top of cabin near the starboard hatch over head, then runs down starboard side of cabin, somewhere. Does anybody know where. I am suspecting it runs very near my forward window in salon. I get a slow drip out of one of the window frame screws after a rain and am convinced it's not the window leaking. Any ideas. I am going to drill a small relief hole outside (in the aluminum frame) so any moisture in there will drain out. Other than that I just keep a towel under the spot.

The wiring harness is actually imbedded between the interior lining and the roof structure along the starboard side... somewhere near the mast support arch it traverses to the port side to connect the galley or port settee overhead light..... in my opinion, it is more likely the water has entered from the outside frame and been captured in the H channel . If you believe it is weeping along the wiring to the window, then there may be even more serious water intrusion issues in the deck core because the wiring runs pretty much directly above the light fixtures.... putting it 6 to 8 inches from the side....

My first suggestion is to remove the window and frame and look for damaged wood.... if the wood looks okay, then the frames need resealing.... at the minimum the exterior frame should be resealed... but if the glass itself needs new seals you're in luck.... CatalinaDirect.com sells a kit for this.... it's a very common repair for our 30 year old boats....

 

[KingAirDriver]

My Catalina 27 is a 1984, Hull # 5535.

My mast wiring leads from the panel (switches) down through the engine compartment, forward through the bilge, it appears to go up through the center of the mast post, and up through the mast step and up into the mast. Nothing is exposed.

Is that normal?

 

[The Garbone]

It;s a crap shoot with these things.

Mine come out of the base of the mast and straight down through holes drilled in the deck into the head. They then run down the starboard side behind that trim piece to the VHF and breaker panel. Only have 2 wires (antenna and lights) and they were dangling loose in the head until I took the wooden channel off the nonfunctioning (and not wired) wind guage and an old light fixture to cover them.

 

[shipwreck66]

This is about what I figured. The wires are run, as all things on Catalina's are, depending on the day of the week they were done. Find 3 boats, they are probably all different.

 

[jrowan]

Even though I replaced our forward portlights last year, I decided to go around the outer cabin house & deck & caulked all seams with Life Caulk. Resealed around all portlight outer frames, chainplates, deck fittings etc. & it made a big difference. Keeping water out of a boat is a constant battle!

 

[Ajay73]

My plan is to eventually eliminate all the old wires and run new. Don't know why Catalina just didn't run some sort of conduit so you could see how/where everything went. But other projects are in line ahead of this.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Actually, you might want to consider yourself very lucky. I found, on our boat, that it is much easier to follow or trace individual wires if they are not in conduits. You can add conduits as you see fit while you're redoing stuff. Good luck. Been there...

 

[Ajay73]

Stu, conduits, cable trays, something that allows access is my meaning, understand? This as opposed to burying wires in a fiberglass liner.